Sarah Terry of stitchmachine.net
"We regret to inform you that..."
All crafters hate reading these words in the top of an email from a craft fair they've been dying to get into. It really sucks, especially when you are trying to plan a craft fair schedule or you know it's a cool event and just really want to be part of it! What usually follows that regrettable sentence is a polite decline of your application, and some encouraging words that make you want to barf. Since it's that time of year where acceptance/decline emails are going out for some of the spring shows (in fact, I've already received a few non- acceptances for spring myself!), I thought I would share some of my thoughts on what to do when you get declined from a craft show.
What to do:
It's natural to feel hurt when you first get the news. I think it just comes with the territory of owning a business where you design and make everything. (I mean, it has to be easier when there isn't so much of yourself invested in it, right??) Give yourself a little time to fume, but after that, try not to take it personally. My gut reaction when I find out that I haven't been accepted is to go into my studio and just work on something- anything. I like to get away from email, twitter, facebook, marketing, people, everything, and just do what I love- creating. I actually do some of my best work during these times.- Remember that those who are running a craft fair might be looking at hundreds or even thousands of really great businesses, and at some point they will have to turn down applicants that are really great, just because of space. They simply have to accept some and have to decline some. They also have to offer a variety of different crafts for their event, so some really talented purse designers, for example, might be declined just because there happen to be lots of equally great purse designers entering that year.
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